Hey, I’m Chris, the developer on The Escapists.
Before Early Access begins, I wanted to start posting a weekly update showing you guys what I’m working on, and giving you an opportunity to feed back to me on a few concepts. This week, I want to share some ideas around the various prisons you’ll be breaking free from in the final version of the game.The Prisons
Decided to aim for six for now. They'll start off easy and gradually increase in difficulty, adding new obstacles and hurdles until the final prison which will probably make you sweat blood. Here’s a run-down of what I’ve got so far. Have a read and share your ideas below.
Prison #1
A nice & easy minimal security prison. Surrounded by a single perimeter fence.
Prison #2
This will be a snowy prisoner of war camp. Electric fences and guard towers up the difficulty. It's also two prisoners to a cabin, so you'll have to befriend your cellmate beforehand so he doesn't grass you up while you're making a break for it.
Prison #3
Shankton State Penitentiary, the medium security prison featured in early access and the one you’ve seen in trailers for the game. Depending on your feedback during EA, the difficulty of this prison might be tweaked for the final release.
Prison #4
A prison compound surrounded by dense jungle. Escaping the prison walls is only half the job, you'll have to pass a guard checkpoint beyond the walls to be home-free. This'll require some additional prep work- forged papers and a disguise.
Prison #5
Mexican open prison, almost survival like as the inmates are extremely tough and aggressive. Even the guards stay outside. Basically a spoof of Sona from Prison Break season 3. Arming yourself and making what friends you can will be a high priority here.
Prison #6
A super-max high security prison set on an island. Cameras in every cell, regular shakedowns, limited movement- it won't be easy. Then you've got the issue of getting across the water…Your Feedback
These are all concepts right now and absolutely open to ideas and suggestions from you guys. I’d like you to:
Make me some prison names!
Shankton State Penitentiary is the name of the prison featured in Early Access, so try to stick to the same “theme”, as well as suggesting a name that fits the attributes of the prison.
Tell me about things you’d like to see happen in these prisons
Think about the types of people who would inhabit those jails, what they might say and how they might behave.
Tell me how you got thrown in the slammer
Love the prison stories you’ve all been sharing in the “How did you end up in prison?” thread. Keep these coming as Mike_Team17 is really keen to use some in the marketing for the game (and they're funny). Here’s my favourite so far, massive kudos to devilsden3 for the GTA cross-over:
“My name is Trevor Philips. I ran TP industries selling meth to the people of Mexico and Sandy Shores, Michael de Santa, Brad then Franklin. In jail for selling of drugs (15 years), robbery (10 years), killing 1,090,008 police officers… and around 10.000 Merryweather”
That’s it from me this week. I’ll be posting another update next week, and kicking around the forums until then, so keep on posting in the various discussions as I’m reading them every day.
Cheers
Chris